Motorsport Ireland president Aiden Harper says the three venues in the running for the right to a host an Irish round of the World Rally Championship in 2025 will be whittled down to the final selection later this week.
On Monday, Limerick Racecourse confirmed its intention to be transformed into a 10,000 square metre service park and media centre as well as the WRC fan zone for the proposed event which would run over three years.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's John Kenny on Tuesday, Harper confirmed that the Institute of Technology Tralee in Co Kerry and an amalgamated south-east representation based out of Waterford City are the other two parties bidding to be the base for the event, with the candidates to be chosen by close of business of Friday followed by an announcement early next week.
Ireland last hosted a WRC round in 2009, two years after the inaugural 2007 Rally Ireland, and Harper said his objective has been to revive the prospect of hosting it on this island once again.
"When I became president of Motorsport Ireland, my dream was to bring back a World Rally Championship back to the country," he said.
"So over the last two years we've been looking and seeing what needs to be done to do that.
"A little over six months ago, we wrote out in Motorsport Ireland to all of our 32 motor clubs and asked them to come forward with any suggested areas where they may have in their local areas that would host a WRC service park - the main requirement being 10,000 square metres of solid ground.
"So through a process of elimination, we are down to three locations in the country whereby we have three very suitable venues.
"Any one of them could be turned into a World Rally Championship service park. So we're now down to the final three and it will go through a process of elimination later on this week."
Harper said the selection process would now intensify this week with the view of choosing the most suitable bid.
"We have met all three regions previously a couple of times at this stage and everything has been paper based, power-point based, so this is the touch and feel exercise that will happen over the next couple of days to ensure that what they've said on paper is actually on the ground," he said.
"Joining us for that will be members of the World Rally Championship, promoters whose job it is to deliver the event along with Motorsport Ireland.
"We all know they can all do what they say on paper but we now need to touch the ground, meet the local politicians, meet the chambers of commerce, the organisers, the motor clubs etc on the actual sites themselves and then come up with a final result of where it will be based."
Harper added that from discussions with the WRC, Ireland had "pretty much been guaranteed a round" provided a venue for the service park and funding could be secured, with the annual timing of the event aimed to be end of August or early September.
"I would be confident that we are pencilled in on a 2025 calendar right now, 2026 and 2027. And this is a three-year gig but it has the possibility of growing to a six or nine-year as we see all around the world there are countries who have been hosting WRC events for multiple, multiple years and that's not to say that we cannot do the same," he said.
"We're in for an initial three years. Obviously, there is an incredible infrastructural build in a service park when you look at all the requirements that are needed between running water, electricity, toilets, all of those items, and that's why it wouldn't be feasible to have a one-year event or to move it from place to place each year."
But regarding the necessary funding a WRC round in Ireland, he said that Motorsport Ireland had consulted with the Government in recent months and that applications had been submitted.
"Our ask is quite simple. It's a €15m investment from the Government for a €300m return over three years which is a pretty strong business case," he said, adding an assurance that "there would be very strong governance" over the finances.
"The funding application is making its way through the various levels within Government right now and once we announce where the venue will actually be, that will host the service park, we will be hoping the local politicians, chambers of commerce and various people would assist us in the lobbying when it comes to guarantee the funding.
"But all of this is predicated on getting the Government funding. We're well advanced in our plans when it comes to picking a venue, securing a venue etc but if the funding does not become available, we won't have a World Rally Championship here in Ireland."
